


By Camel

by yellowbound



Category: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)
Genre: F/M, Mild Language, alternate universe - the mummy au, cassian as evelyn, jyn as rick o'connell, kay as jonathan
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-21
Updated: 2017-05-20
Packaged: 2018-11-03 03:34:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,720
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10958799
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yellowbound/pseuds/yellowbound
Summary: After being refused entry into Bambridge, Cassian enlists his sister (Kay) and a criminal (Jyn) to help find the lost city of the dead.





	By Camel

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by [this lovely The Mummy](http://runakvaed.tumblr.com/post/159903493793/rebelcaptain-the-mummyau-are-you-sure-you-want) mood board.

Cassian’s shoulders sagged as he read the letter. He hadn’t gotten in. Again. He was terrible about getting his hopes up, he shouldn’t have let it happen. Kay had tried to warn him.

“I’m sorry, old chap,” his sister said, coming up to give him a pat (more like a smack) on the back, while offering him her flask. For once, Cassian took it.

And promptly spit it out, alcoholic liquid unfortunately landing on priceless ancient artifacts. “What _was_ that?!?” Cassian asked, frantically trying to mop up the sprayed liquid before Draven saw what had happened.

“Just something I found on the street,” Kay said with a shrug, wandering off the finger some nearby gold.

“Something you found-” Cassian said with a groan. He loved his sister, he really did, but she was more like a stray dog at times. And she wasn’t helpful, not when she was telling him about the odds of Bambridge scholars letting in a Mexican to study Ancient Egypt. “Very low,” had been her assessment. She was right, of course.

“I also found _this_ ,” Kay said, producing from behind her back an intricate box. Cassian took it from her and begin to examine it. “Well, not so much found as _stole_ -”

“What?!?” explained Cassian, just as his explorations induced the box to pop open.

*

Cassian frowned as they brought her out. _Unkept_ was his assessment. _Feral_ would’ve been Kay’s, but he wasn’t Kay.

It didn’t matter - he had decided that finding Hamunaptra would force the Bambridge scholars to let him in, and if this criminal was the way to accomplish that, so be it.

“I can’t believe you’re executing a woman.”

Cassian got a side-eye. And a long list of her crimes. Which, Cassian had to admit, were considerable. She was more Kay’s type than his. But, well, he could handle her. Even if he was just a librarian. He shrugged off the echo of Kay’s laughter and got down to the business of negotiating her release.

*

“No.”

“I just saved your life!”

She looked him over. Cassian didn’t mind that there were bars between them, at the moment. She made him feel small, somehow, even though she was a good deal shorter than him. “I didn’t ask you to do that. Besides, we’d be crossing the desert to get there. I doubt it’s the kind of travel you’re used to.”

Cassian had been crossing deserts his whole life. It was rain soaked England that would be a challenge, but he wanted to go there anyway. “I’ll be fine. You’ll be paid well, and then you’ll be free to go. Wherever you want.”

Cassian got the feeling he was being judged, but he didn’t care, as long as she took him where he wanted to go.

“Alright,” she finally agreed. “But I’m not wearing a skirt.”

Cassian gave her a bright smile. Kay didn’t wear skirts either, he could not care less. “Deal.”

*

Jyn was more than a bit miffed. The ‘I’m not wearing a skirt’ line had managed to scare off every single guy she had ever used it on, until now. Worse, she had discovered that her savior had quite a lovely smile, and the smile he had given her had been genuine. There was no edge of nastiness or guile to him, he generally wanted to go to Hamunaptra, and wanted her help. She actually believed he would let her take what she wanted and leave, a type of honesty that was so far removed from what Jyn usually dealt with she had no frame of reference for it.

Jyn was grateful for the rather nice bathroom provided and used it to take a bath and just generally recover from the grime of prison that laid over her (in more ways than one). Running a brush through her hair relaxed her even more, after her extended bath was over. She might not be wearing a skirt - an impractical garment for her type of work - but she still could clean up before what promised to be a dusty, dirty trip.

“Ready?” Jyn asked Cassian, upon meeting him with their traveling companions. She saw Cassian start - he clearly didn’t think she was capable of cleaning up as well as she had.

She also learned why Cassian hadn’t cared about the ‘no skirts’ statement - he had a sister who was uninterested in skirts, as well. Unfortunately, his sister was interested in alcohol and being annoying and having a gun. Cassian had spared Jyn from denying her one, saying she would only get drunk and use it on them, or herself. Their banter was awfully light-hearted for such a depressing subject, but while Cassian was an entirely new type of person to Jyn, his sister was not. And Jyn wasn’t giving her a gun.

Jyn wasn’t even remotely surprised when Kay complained the entire journey out to Hamunaptra. Jyn was surprised when Cassian didn’t join in. He not only rode a camel without complaint - a rare feat indeed - but also was able to read a book while doing so, which, quite frankly, what the fuck? Jyn could _shoot_ from a camel, but that was a necessary skill, while reading a book on the back of one was not.

Cassian’s preoccupation afforded Jyn plenty of uninterrupted time to study him, and seeing as her other options included desert, camel, and Kay, Jyn took full advantage. He was striking to look at, the desert sun not revealing any flaws, as was its merciless custom. His optimism was a bit hard to take, as Jyn tended to agree with Kay on his chances of getting into Bambridge, but Jyn had to admit she didn’t mind his easy smile, or the way his eyes danced when he talked about the lost city of the dead or, quite frankly, any aspect of ancient Egypt.

*

Jyn, breathing hard, adjusted her grip on her staff, as she circled an attacker. Their camp was in chaos, thanks to… whoever these people where. Jyn had thought no one could be more disruptive than the Americans they had raced (and beaten) to get here, but she was apparently wrong. Jyn didn’t particularly want to fight this one, as it was obvious he was blind, but she had also seen him fight, and she knew his lost sight wasn’t an impediment. Still, Jyn hesitated.

“You will doom all mankind if you wake what lies in the city,” he said, his staff at the ready.

“It’s a ruin,” Jyn pointed out. “There’s nothing there to wake.”

“If they want to die, let them,” came a gruff voice from not too far away. A large man sat on a camel, well armed with a machine gun. Jyn hadn’t noticed him before.

“It is not them I am worried about,” answered the man in front of her.

“Yes, you are,” said his companion.

The man with the staff smiled. Jyn thought it was a fond smile. “You have one day to leave. If you’re not gone by tomorrow, we will return to drive you off.” With that, they were gone, leaving the groups to sort themselves out.

Jyn found Cassian sprawled out amongst some supplies, weapon in his hand. Removing it, Jyn felt it was still warm, so he had fired it, but she didn’t know if he hit anything. She helped him sit up, checking him over. He was clearly dazed. “Maybe I should give you some pointers,” Jyn found herself saying.

Cassian smiled uncertainly. “Maybe.”

*

“Brace the gun with your shoulder, like this,” Jyn said, as she helped Cassian steady the weapon he was holding. He was somewhat familiar with pistols, but the rifle was something new. He was taking aim at some sandbags in the distance. It was dark and not easy to see, but Kay was safely asleep near their fire and Jyn hardly cared if any of the Americans got shot.

A muffled thump and spray of sand followed Cassian’s shot. “Ah ha!” he explained, looking at her with a grin. Jyn couldn’t help but smile back. 

“Cut it out!” echoed across the camp. Apparently, the Americans were trying to sleep and not taking to kindly to the noise. Kay, meanwhile, was still snoring peacefully. Sniggering, Jyn and Cassian made their way back to the warmth of the fire. Cassian in particular was somewhat unsteady, as he had been drinking from Kay’s supply. Really, Jyn was surprised he could hold the weapon steady enough even to hit the rather large target of a sandbag pile. But drunk practice was better than no practice.

“I don’t normally drink this much,” said Cassian, taking another sip. Jyn wasn’t surprised that a night involving gunfights, swordfights, and people proclaiming they would doom all mankind would drive Cassian to drink more than usual.

Jyn left the drinking to others, as she had no intention of dying in the desert if she could help it. “Why are you like this?” she found herself blurting out.

Cassian frowned at her, confused. “Why am I like what?”

Jyn, at somewhat of a loss to explain her question, finally settled on, “Why are you out in the middle of the desert in the middle of the night with a bunch of fortune hunters? You don’t fit in.”

“Oh,” Cassian huffed, “well,” he said standing up, “I may not be… an adventurer-” he said, gesturing somewhere in the general vicinity of the others, “Or some sort of sharp shooter,” he said, gesturing vaguely in Jyn’s direction, “BUT, I am very proud to be in charge of the books,” he said with finality, returning with dramatic flare to his set next to Jyn.

It was Jyn’s turn to be confused. He was in charge of their papers? “What?”

“I’m a _librarian_ ,” Cassian said, as though that settled it.

It really didn’t settle anything, other than somewhere deep in Jyn’s gut, in a way that she felt would stubbornly refuse to let go.

Cassian was smiling drunkenly at Jyn. Jyn smiled back.

Cassian looked away. “I should probably go to bed.”

Jyn sighed. He really should. “I won’t let anything happen to you.”

“Thanks,” said Cassian, with one last shy smile.

_Shit_ , thought Jyn. Well, at least being preoccupied with her thoughts of Cassian would help keep her awake, until an American took over the watch.


End file.
